In a wide spectrum of highly automated industries around the world, large volumes of cylindrical articles such as containers with relatively rigid side walls in constant flow have to be rearranged and ordered into a single file in a continuous flow. An ongoing need exists to efficiently single file these cylindrical articles for filling or packaging or other action such as inspecting, packaging, washing, rinsing, filling, labeling or capping within as small a working area as possible. Examples of these are the container manufacturers for and the actual end producers of the Food, Beverage, Brewery, Pharmaceutical, Oil and Paint Industries. The containers are of glass, plastic, metal (aluminum or steel), or composite. Automotive and like or related industries using assembly line techniques similarly require ordering of cylindrical pistons and other cylindrical parts for handling in automated systems in large quantities in their various assembling and machining processes.
In order to maximize a high degree of operating eficiency on these conveyor lines, a surge or accumulation area between each section of processing equipment is desirable, because momentary or intermittent disruptions in the feed in a production line would otherwise means that within seconds each section of upstream process equipment would have to shut down. Without reserve areas of accumulation between each section, the entire production line would have to stop and start frequently, thus reducing the efficiency of the entire production operation.
Following each of these surge or accumulation areas, it is necessary to order the articles into a single file, in order to feed the articles to the next piece of downstream equipment. Many types of ordering systems have been proposed for this purpose.
Tice U.S. Pat. No. 36934,706, patented Jan. 27, 1976, provides an apparatus for channeling a disorderly array of articles that are being transported on a conveyor into a uniform single row of articles. The apparatus includes a pair of spaced articles confining walls. The walls converge towards each other in a direction corresponding to the flow of the articles. One of the walls has a plurality of longitudinally spaced vertically extending rows of beads provided thereon for engaging the disorderly aray of articles as they pass therethrough and force such into single file while minimizing jamming. These beads are rotatably supported, so that as the articles of the disorderly array engage the beads while being moved forward on the conveyor, the beads tend to rotate, permitting the articles to be moved through the narrow end of the spaced walls without jamming. The wall with the beads thereon can be referred to as a live wall and takes the overall configuration of an abacus.
Beard U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,647partented Dec. 21, 1971, provides an article combiner which arranges a plurality of articles advancing abrease in tandem relation to form a single row thereof without appreciably interfering with forward movement of the articles or their natural tendency to nest or move into tandem relation.
Converging guide means are provided for smoothly guiding a plurality of articles advancing abreat into a single row, with means being provided for quickly and effectively dislodging articles from a jam-up, should one occur.
Referring to FIG. 1, the terminal end portion of the first conveyor 12 and the beginning portion of the conveyor 13 from a part of the article combiner, which also includes first and second guid means 14, 15 which are disposed in converging relation above and adjacent to these portions of first conveyor 12 and second conveyor 13.
First guide means 14 includes agitating means 16 for agitating articles brought into contact therewith to free the articles from any jammed condition, and to facilitate arrangement thereof in tandem relation without apreciably interfering with forward movement thereof along the predetermined path of travel. Agitating means 16 comprises a bank of freely rotatable rollers 17 mounted for rotation about generally vertical axes extending parallel to the articles being conveyed by the conveyors. Rollers 17 are arranged in vertically extending rows and, as illustrated, there are three rollers in each row, with the rollers of adjacent rows being staggered relative to each other and with their adjacent peripheral portion overlapping.
First guide means 14 also includes buffer means 30 normally maintaining articles out of contact with agitating means 16, so as normally not to permit agitating means 16 to appreciably interface with the natural tendency of the articles to nest or move into tandem relation, but permitting contact of the articles with the agitating means 16 upon a predetermined resistance to further forward movement of certain articles, as upon a jam-up of articles between the first and second guide means, such that the agitating means 16 may agitate these articles and free them from any such jammed condition. As illustrated, buffer means 30 comprises a pair of vertically spaced-apart guide bars 31 preferably formed of nonscarring, friction-reducing material.
These devices have only limited success in accomplishing their task. The live wall of spherical beads of U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,706 actually does very little turning as the cylindrical articles pass by, and even when they do turn, there is no additional give or moment of mvoement resulting from the turning, due to their spherical shape. The same is true of the turning of the round rollers of U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,647. Even if the round rollers do turn upon tangential contact of the cylindrical articles, there would be no additional give or moment of movement resulting that would further encourage the cylindrical objects to slip by one another.
The only real give or agitating movement of the cylindrical articles as they are forced along the path of the guide walls made up of spherical beads or round rollers is the in and out movement caused by the peaks and valleys of the staggered rows of spherical beads or round rollers. This does, however, offer some improvement over the solid low-friction wall of that portion of U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,151. These types of solid low-friction shallow inclusive angle converging rails are most often very long, which also requires additional lengths of very costly horizontal conveyor components. Most often, however, many production plants do not have enough floor space to allow adequate single file room for these flat (7.degree. or less) inclusive angle rails.
Since the 1970's there has been a substantial increase in the speed and number of cylindrical articles that flow per unit time through the production lines of the previously mentioned industries. As an example, in a single high speed brewery filling line, as many as 2,200 can per minute are produced. This has exacerbated the ordering problem, to single file the cylindrical articles, and there is in fact no ordering and combining apparatus available today that is capable of satisfactory performance at such high speeds.
Fuller U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,343, patented Dec. 11, 1990, provides apparatus for ordering a flow of randomly arrangled cylindrical articles into a single file, featuring an article conveyor having guide walls composed of a plurality of polygonal rotators arranged in substantially vertical stands in superimposed rotating relationship, the rotators having substantially straight side walls joined together at corners with angles between 60.degree. and 150.degree., and preferably oriented to each other in the stand in nonaligned relation with corners projecting outwardly beyond side walls of other rotators in the stand, thereby imparting a rotational and vibrational movement to articles in contact with the rotators.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,843, to Ouellette, patented Oct. 16, 1990, provides ordering appartus with combiner rails for installation on opposite sides fo a container-transporting conveyor system. The function of the combiner rails is to reduce a relatively wide span of multiple containers to a single row or file of the containers. Each combiner rail has a plurality of sets of rollers. Each roller set is supported by a channel in a horizontal row and several channels are stacked one above the other. The axes of the rollers in one horizontal channel are staggered from the axis of the rollers in the immediately adjacent horizontal channel. This arrangement is accomplished by providing channels which may be extruded for supporting each horizontal row of shafts and longitudinally offsetting the channels as desired. Because of these off-set roller axes, the gaps between adjacent rollers in any given horizontal row are staggered from the gaps in an adjacent horizontal row. The overall effect is to practically eliminate the gap or recess between rollers that has prevailed therefore.
The mounting of an array of rotators such as rollers or rotators so as to constitute a side wall of such rollers or rotators in a position to contact containers on a conveyor in such ordering apparatus has always been a special problem. Individual rollers or totators break or become distorted and have to be replaced. The axles on which they are mounted can bend under the stress of a jam-up, and have to be replaced. This usually required dismantling of the wall, and the shutdown can be prolonged as this can be complicated and time-consuming.
The present invention provides a simple construction for such a wall module tht eliminates screws, nuts and bolts, and gives access to the rotators or rollers by way of sliding bearing mounts carrying the bearing tips or ends of the axles on which the rotators or rollers are supported. The bearing mounts slide on and off the module frame, and when off are loose, and can be pulled off the axle ends for replacement of the rollers or rotators and/or axles.